Thursday was a good start as far as that was concerned. He scored twice – a pair of short-handed goals just 48 seconds apart in the first period – and his New York Islanders outlasted the Toronto Maple Leafs by a score of 5-4 in overtime.

Grabner’s second of the evening came off a terrible giveaway from Leafs’ goalie Jonathan Bernier, who came out to play the puck, did a quick spin and bounced the puck off defenseman Morgan Rielly and right to Grabner. The Islanders forward did the rest, putting the puck into the open net.

John who? This team is going to be fun to watch for years to come. Grabs and the young guns coming up played their butts off tonight. As always the D was suspect and Nabby didn’t look so good himself but they found a way.

imgoingtowichita - Feb 28, 2014 at 8:38 AM

If #40 can bury half the chances he gets each game he would rival Ovi/Stamkos for goal scoring lead. Isles can hope that the Olympics were that shot in the arm of confidence to get him going.